Ethnic Festivals

There are many festivals among the minor ethnic groups in Anshun. Besides celebrating like Han people the Spring Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival, and the Mid-Autumn Festival, they also have such characteristic festivals as “Feb. 2nd”, “Mar. 3rd”, “Apr. 8th”, “Jun. 6th”, “Jun. 24th” (in the Xia calendar) and Ganbiao Festival.

Ganbiao in Buyi’s language is called “langmaolangshao”, which is a social activity for young Buyi men and women to look for their mates and communicate with each other. “Ganbiao” often takes place during happy events or leisure seasons. At the festival, young men and women can sing in antiphonal styles and blow leaves to express their admiration for each other. However, they have to hide from their parents or relatives while engaging in such activities, as otherwise they would be criticized as rude. If both sides think they can go on seeing each other, the boy will ask the girl’s close friend to reserve the time and place of the next Ganbiao. The girl can turn down the offer if she objects to it. The Ganbiao songs are divided into “love songs”, “sad songs,” “marriage escaping songs”, and “complaining songs”, etc and there can be 9, 7, 5, or 4 characters to a line.

Flower Dancing Festival: It is a traditional festival that is the grandest and longest among the Miao people in Anshun. “Flower Dancing” is a Han name, as the slopes are grown with flowers, but it does not mean quite the same in Miao language. In the Miao language it is called “Oudao”, meaning “slope-fair”. All the Flower Dancing Festivals take place in the first month in the lunar calendar. During the festival, the Miao people, especially the young men and women, would wear beautiful clothes. The bachelors would carry some dozen or even scores of exquisite faces of fans with them, and they can even ask their brothers to replace them if they fail to find any suitable mate. The women would wrap up such adornments as silver bells, beads, and chains with them. The men would play the Lusheng and dance under the flower trees, and the women can sway the bells and dance with handkerchiefs in their hands. There are also such activities as flower pole climbing competition, archery competition, needlework contest, martial art performance, and ox fighting performance, etc.

Every Flower Dancing Festival lasts 3 days. On the first day flower trees are planted so that the Miao people can get prepared when seeing the trees. The next morning the entire families go for the festival. On the last day, the festival ends and the guests can rest and eat at the neighboring Miao villages and enjoy wine, music and dance for a whole night. The flower trees are then sent to infertile families by the chiefs of the village. The families would be pleased to receive such a gift and host a feast for guests. The men and women can take up this opportunity to choose their mates and the senior folks play the Lusheng and flute to celebrate the harvest. Nowadays Flower Dancing Festival has become the grand celebration for all ethnic groups in this area, and during the festival a lot of neighboring villagers would crowd into Anshun.

“Mar. 3rd” Festival: “Mar. 3rd” is a festival when young men and women sing antiphonic songs to each other and select their mates. People like to come to the river banks and slopes to listen to the folk songs by the young people and watch the various ethnic dances. Some households would make glutinous rice, dye it in different colors and sent it to the gathering place for their children, whereas others would fill the small, colored cloth bag with eggs and various foods for the kids that play or participate in the festival. Young Buyi men and women hold grand hill-climbing, singing, and friend-making activities during the three days, and youths that live dozens of kilometers far from Anshun would come to take part in and celebrate the traditional singing contest. Some singers can give full play to their ability by improvising poems and songs, and some can even sing 3 days and 3 nights, or even longer, with their opponents. Many youths find their soul mates through such activities.